3. Hawk
THREE
hawk
It’s not every day you see a purple-haired girl sneak up to your homestead, freak out, then run away faster than you’ve ever seen a person run before.
Although, I guess her hair is meant to be lavender, given her name.
She’s a bit of a cute one, which is an understatement. When I spotted her in that bakery, I was a little smitten. She’s got that lovely sun-kissed tan, and her body is as natural as nature makes them. All the right curves to make me go a little crazy about her. Especially the few times I caught her smiling. Damn, now that’s a woman.
Of course, I didn’t make any sudden moves then, because I thought hitting on a girl at someone else’s wedding was a bit crass. I guess others don’t think it is. Fox didn’t. Says I missed an opportunity, and people apparently hook up at weddings all the time, which I guess makes sense. It’s a celebration of love. What’s a good way to celebrate love?
Make more love.
I pack up the wood in my truck and head into my cabin to get the shower going. A quick shower before I roll on down to the farmers’ market, drop off some wood at Old Man McGuillicutty’s tavern, and get paid.
Mostly, I make my own way in life. With a little bit of help from Hunter and Bear, I set up my own cabin deep in the woods, far from the civilization of Evergreen Valley. It’s not like I’m some sort of total survivalist weirdo or anything like that. I still maintain an internet connection, have electricity and plumbing, and all that other good stuff that the modern world brings us. I just think it’s important to be able to take care of yourself and those around you.
I take my time in the shower. The temptation to, uh, relieve some stress is there. Seeing that Lavender girl is bringing me some weird thoughts. Womendon’t usually dance around in my head like this. After fighting myself a bit, I realize I should just get going.
Not too long after that bit of hygiene is done, I’m headed into the farmers’ market. I drop off my lumber to McGuillicutty, then go about my business.
I need to pick up some produce and spices to make that stew I’m planning to make. I’m not self-sufficient enough to grow my own carrots, yet. I am studying how viable my own little potato garden would be.
I pay my greetings to the various people of Evergreen Valley. Despite my remoteness, I’m pretty well-known throughout the town. The Moore family has been a pretty big part of Evergreen for over a hundred years, and my family is pretty vast. I’m surprised I didn’t run into one of my uncles when I dropped the firewood off at the tavern.
With a canvas bag full of vegetables, I head toward the part of the market that has more prepared foods. I could use something to take on the go before I head back home.
That’s when everything got a bit awkward for me.
Our eyes meet.
Lavender’s big, deep-brown eyes are staring right back at mine. She has that same terrified expression she had back at my cabin.
How do I keep running into this girl? I’m starting to think the universe is trying to tell me something.
Missing my first chance? Yeah, I misinterpreted wedding etiquette. That’s a good enough excuse.
Missing my second chance? She ran away as soon as she saw me.
If I miss this one, I’m just an idiot, and I don’t have any other excuses to hide behind.
So I go for it. I smile back at her, keeping it slight. She seems terrified, but it doesn’t appear to be one of those legitimate fears. Like, I’m not triggering any past phobias with my presence or anything like that.
“Hello, there,” I say as I walk up to her stand. The banner alongside the top of it reads Hannah’s Sweet Stop, which I realize is named after the other person at the bake shop I was dealing with the other day.
“Hi,” she says, seeming meeker and cuter by the second. She looks around and then gestures to some of the merchandise. “Would you like to buy a doughnut?”
The stand is filled with those, as well as muffins, cookies, bear claws, croissants, and countless other pastries I couldn’t tell you the name of. I take a gander at all of it, rubbing my chin. “I’m considering it, but the sweetest thing here is what I’m looking at right now.”
She turns an incredibly bashful red at my words. “I’m not for sale, sorry.”
“Didn’t think you would be. I’ll have to win over something so sweet in other ways.”
The way she’s cracking up. It’s so damn adorable. She regains enough composure not too soon after my words. “I don’t think we’ve gotten off on the right foot, have we?”
“We’ve both been quite awkward, yeah.”
“Awkward? You haven’t been awkward at all. You’ve been cool as a cucumber.”
I snort. “Cool? Me doing the whole strong, silent type at the bakery? Not knowing how being a wedding guest works? I never thought of myself as cool.”
“You’re incredibly cool. And hot. That’s actually a bit of a contradiction.” She strokes her chin at the thoughts that had just poked her brain.
“Don’t think about it too much. Language is weird.”
She’s calming down a bit, realizing I’m a human being and not just some weird, scary lumberjack guy.
“I take it you’re new in Evergreen Valley?” I ask, leaning on the stall. “I haven’t seen you around here much.”
“Um, I’m just here for the summer.”
I raise an eyebrow. “For, like, a vacation?”
She nods. “For now, that’s how it is, yes.”
I look at the stall again. “And you’re working, what I’m assuming is, a part-time job while you’re here?”
“Um, yes,” he says, more nodding following.
“That doesn’t seem like it's much of a vacation to me.”
“I’m enjoying myself a lot, and isn’t that all that matters?”
I wasn’t one to shit on other people’s work, but I’d never guess working at a bakery would be what I would call a vacation. It seemed hot and sweaty with the ovens, not to mention all the math you had to do, and dealing with picky customers. I’m also not one to not let people enjoy things, however strange they are to me.
She still seems slightly panicked. “Look, I want to apologize about earlier.”
“Hmm? Apologize about what?”
“Trespassing on your property?”
I raise an eyebrow at her words. “You were trespassing on my property?”
“I didn’t mean to! I was out taking a long hike in the woods. And I happened to hear your music. And I came closer. And I saw you. And I was, uh”—she’s looking for the right words to describe seeing me cut wood in nothing but my shorts—“entranced by what I saw. I didn’t mean to stare or anything.”
“It’d only be trespassing if I didn’t want you there. If anything, you didn’t give me the chance to invite you to join me.”
She cocks her head. “Join you, shirtless, cutting wood?”
I chuckle. “If that’s what you’d want to do, I think I’d enjoy that too. But I meant to just hang out for a bit. I could have made you some iced tea or something.”
I actually wasn’t sure what I could have done. It’s been so long since I had people over to entertain. Most of the time when I did hang out with others, it was a long way away from home. I probably should change that. Sure, most girls probably enjoy a good stew, but I should at least have some booze to share.
“Do you enjoy hiking? Sorry to make assumptions, but I see someone like you and can’t think of them as nature lovers.”
“What makes you think that?” she says, leaning on the stand, accusingly.
I fluff some of my own hair. “The purple, er, I guess, lavender hair, mainly.”
She crosses her arms. “And what hair color should a nature lover have?”
I shrug. “Their natural hair color?” Then I chuckle. “Thjough the purple is so pretty, so I suppose I have enver given it too much thought. Your hair is a surprise in the best possible way.”
She lets out a light laugh. “Then I hope to keep surprising you, then, Hawk.”
“Maybe we should get together and do a hike together some time. I could take you on a guided tour of the area instead of letting you stumble into random people’s properties.”
“Tabitha told me that the best way to experience the Evergreen woods was to explore it yourself, though.”
“Tabitha also told you that shampoo is how they mind control people.”
She poked me through the stall. “Hey, I said she realized her mistake.”
“I’m just saying that maybe it might be worth experiencing the beauty of the forest in other ways. Her word isn’t law.”
Lavender plays with the thought in her head a bit, her eyes drifting across the sky. “Sure. Having a guide would be fun too.”
“We’ll do it in a few days, I think. Make sure the weather is nice before committing.”
“Yeah, as much as I love nature, I can enjoy it better without being drenched.”
It is at that moment I believe something clicked in Lavender’s head. “Uh... so, I’m technically supposed to be working right now.”
“Yeah,” I nod. “Usually not my style to bother girls who are on the clock.”
“But also, no one’s even bothered approaching me all this time. Seems like a slow day.”
“The market is every weekend; not every weekend is going to be pure hustle and bustle the whole time.”
“I do think I should be asking, though, if you want to buy something.”
I take another look at all the pastries she’s selling. “Everything you’re selling here does look pretty good, but I’ve honestly never been one for baked goods when it came to treating my sweet tooth.”
“What do you treat your sweet tooth with?” She gazes at my arms. “Nothing but whey protein smoothies?”
I flex for her playfully. “I’m no bodybuilder. This is all natural, babe.”
“And I like what I see; don’t get me wrong.”
I grin. “What I do think I would rather get is some ice cream. And there’s a damn good parlor not far from here. Would you care to join me?”
“Uhm, do you mean join you right now?”
“Yeah, if you can.”
She glances around, and at her stall. She seems unsure. “Uh, I think I’m supposed to be here until six o’clock, and it’s only five thirty-six now.”
I join her in taking stock of the area. “This place is dead. I don’t think your boss is going to hold it against you for calling it early. You might miss one entire sale, and if you do, I will gladly take the heat for you.”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to do anything wrong. This is my first job.”
I raise an eyebrow. I’m slightly confused. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-one?”
She looks all woman, yes. Nothing about her struck me as her being sixteen until she said this is her first job, with the enthusiasm, suggesting that it’s her first job and she just got this job a week ago.
“Is something the matter?”
“Nothing. Look, you’ll be fine. I’m assuming you need to put all this stuff away?”
She nods. “We got cases for it. Everything I don’t sell I’m to drop off at the local shelter. Hannah doesn’t want to sell day-old products, so it’s a nice way to get rid of it.”
“How about we get this into your truck, we get our ice cream, and then I’ll help you take it to the shelter.”
She thinks about it, still anxious about breaking the rules by leaving her job—as I check my phone—nineteen minutes early.
“I assure you. I know Hannah enough to know she won’t care.”
“Fine, but if I get fired from my first job, I’ll never forgive you.”
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to live with myself.”
It takes a better part of twenty minutes to even get everything squirreled away and loaded into the back of the bakery’s truck.
“Well then, Mr. Rule-breaker, lead the way to the ice cream,” she says, gesturing my way.
“Oh, I’m so bad,” I say as I start to lead her toward Cookie’s and Cream. “I jaywalk.”
“Wow,” she says, feigning being impressed. “You just don’t care.”
“I’m so bad, that I had a beer when I was twenty years and ten months old.”
“You’re a menace to society and need to be stopped, Hawk.”
“Yeah, well, who’s going to stop me? You?”
“No. I think I’m just going to end up going down a dark path with you instead. That does seem more fun than the alternatives.”
Cookie’s and Cream is some place I stop by often. She’s got this most delightful fudge caramel blend that makes me betray my manly man status. Cookie herself is an older woman, jovial in nature. She lights up as I approach with Lavender by my side.
“Oh, Hawk, who’s your new friend? I’ve never seen her around here before.”
I smirk, taking Lavender’s hand. She doesn’t fight me. “This is Lavender. She’s Hannah’s new assistant, I believe? Is that right? What’s your title?”
Lavender shrugs. “I think I just help her out wherever she needs it? I need to ask her what to put down when it comes to tax time, I guess.”
“Whatever she does, I’m sure she does it as lovely as she looks.” With how Lavender is blushing, you’d think Cookie was trying to put the moves on her.
“You got anything special today? Any recent new creations?” I say as the two of us approach the counter and look through the glass at the various flavors set before us.
“Mint Cookie Swirl here. Soft as a baby’s butt.”
“I wouldn’t use baby butts in describing ice cream, Cookie.”
“That does sound good, though,” Lavender speaks up. “Give me a triple-scoop cone of that.”
I look at Lavender, impressed. “Going big immediately, huh?”
“I love ice cream, too, and I haven’t had really good cone in a while.”
“You know what? I’ll have the same. That does sound really good.”
A short time later, we’re both greeted with our big, heaping cones.
We sit down and start enjoying them. Lavender is going so fast on hers, I’m surprised she’s not reeling from intense brain freeze.
“Glad to see you’re enjoying it.”
“I told you, it’s been a while. And this stuff is way better than a lot of haughty fancy places. The kinds that charge you ten dollars for, like, a small cup of it.”
“Do you sample those places often?”
“Uh... um...” She slows down, bashful, and partially because I do think the brain freeze caught up with her.
“Don’t you think you’re a little old for ice cream cones?” a friendly voice calls out to me.
With my grandparents behind her, Serena walks up to our table.
“Don’t you think you’re a little old for caring about what other people do?” I shoot back.
Lavender looks between us. “Uh, hi?”
“Lavender, I’d like for you to meet my little sister. Serena, I’d like you to meet my new good friend. I’m corrupting her by making her cut out of work early to get some ice cream.”
“Wow, Hawk. Someone as old as you are should know better.”
Lavender looks very confused at the whole thing. “Is... is this one of those sibling rivalries?”
“Where we give each other endless shit but ultimately love one another?” I say in between licks of my cone. “Yeah, it’s one of those.”
“Oh? Hawk has a new friend?” my grandfather says as they finally catch up with Serena.
“Girlfriend, I bet,” Serena chimes in, continuing that fraternal oath to keep giving me shit.
“Hey, I don’t want to force labels on people so quickly,” I say, trying to be the more noble of us. “Although, I do think I would enjoy further interviewing Lavender for this position.”
Really, if she didn’t want me to tease her like this, she would stop turning beet red in the face and being so goddamn adorable. She’s bringing it upon herself.
“What brings all of you here anyway? I don’t see Grandpa wanting to get ice cream that often.”
“Francine’s making me do it,” he pipes up. “Because Serena got herself a summer job at the local animal shelter. We’re proud of her and we’re celebrating.”
“Serena’s going to be such a wonderful veterinarian someday,” my grandmother chimes in.
“Yeah. I’m going to go to college and get smarter,” my little sister says, looking at me with a mocking demeanor. “Unlike you, who has remained as dumb as you always are.”
“Be nice, Serena,” Grandma interjects. “Your brother is very helpful in the community. He didn’t need to go to college to be so. Everyone helps in their own way.”
“I’m sure he does. As long as people keep being dumb and getting lost in the forest, my brother will never be out of work.”
The three of them proceed to let us be for a time.
“What did she mean about that last part?” Lavender says, already at the point of crunching on the waffle cone. “People getting lost in the forest?”
“Evergreen Valley’s a pretty small town. The county doesn’t actually have a proper park-ranger system in place to overlook the woods and the mountains. Doesn’t mean that stuff doesn’t happen. People get lost; their pets get lost. Some sort of disaster happens, and they need someone to lead them through quickly.”
She nods along. “Okay, I’m with you.”
“That’s where I come in. Professional mountain man. I help the authorities do or find what’s needed. I get paid quite well. I’m not the full-time ranger for the local wilderness, but that’s how I make the money I need to get by. Everyone needs a little cash flow, no matter how self-sufficient they claim to be.”
She leans into me. “A ranger, huh? How heroic.”
“It ain’t heroic if I’m getting paid.”
She leans into me heavier. “Would you do it if you weren’t getting paid?”
I hesitate in responding. “I enjoy getting paid, so on the record, no, I definitely would not do that. I would let people get lost and leave them suffering. I would not care about lost dogs that may get eaten by bears.” I make sure my sarcasm is just dripping off each and every word I say.
“Ah, I see, a man of principle.” Lavender watches my family as they order their ice cream and exchange hearty laughter with Cookie. “Your family seems really nice.”
“They are. I don’t know what I’d do without them.”
“And yet you live in a remote cabin in the woods.”
“I love them all to pieces, but sometimes you need to get away from it all. Sometimes you need your own place to go, where you can just be alone.” I lean into her as well. “Or, well, maybe alone with someone you love in a way that isn’t familial.”
“Inviting me to your private cabin, huh?”
“I think you’d like it.”
“I think I would.” She continues to watch my family. There’s a wistfulness about her people-watching.
It kind of makes me afraid to ask. We’ve had such positive vibes so far, and I’m afraid to break them by getting her to reveal some harsh, dark truth about her situation.
That maybe she doesn’t have a family that loves her.
Perhaps she doesn’t have a family at all.